01 September, 2011

SERB SURVIVOR OF SERBIAN TERROR IN SARAJEVO, SANJA MIHAJLOVIC

Sanja Mihajlovic

During the siege of Sarajevo (1992-95), Serb army wounded or killed thousands of Serbian civilians who were loyal to the Bosnian government in the besieged Sarajevo. One of them was SANJA MIHAJLOVIC, a Serb child shot in stomach by Serbian snipers who terrorized civilians in the besieged Sarajevo. When Radovan Karadzic was captured and transfered to the International Criminal Tribunal in 2008 to face two counts of the Bosnian Genocide, here is how Sanja Mihajlovic reacted to his arrest in a statement to BBC:

“Aside from the day Slobodan Milosevic was arrested, this must be one of the happiest days of my life.

I was filled with emotion at hearing the news on Monday night and stayed up all night celebrating.

I lived in Sarajevo during the conflict, and suffered for four-and-a-half years under the terror of Serbian forces.

I am myself a Bosnian-Serb. I was shot in the stomach by a Serb sniper when I was 12, and had to be transported to London for medical treatment. I stayed on there as a refugee, before eventually moving back.

I hope Mladic is next on the list.

I think that the trials for these war criminals should be held in Sarajevo, and not in The Hague, because they are locals who committed these crimes against people in their own land.

It would make a big difference locally if justice were carried out here.

But we also realise what The Hague stands for and why prosecutors there want to try him under international law.

Karadzic’s arrest should help everyone across this region move on.

Serbia has a new government and this should help them to move one step further towards EU membership. Hopefully it will also move Bosnia-Hercegovina closer to its own membership bid.

We also hope this will bring about long-term and lasting political stability.”

On 11 August 2011, Sanja Mihajlovic also appeared in a debate on Al Jazeera English in Sarajevo. In 35:10-35:26 minute, the host asked Sanja “You’re Serb as well?” and she responded, “No.. Well… I am by name, but I don’t really proclaim myself to be a Serb. So, I don’t.” And then Emir Suljagic, Srebrenica Genocide survivor, added, “She is Bosniak, living in Sarajevo” to which Sanja smiled.

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Srebrenica Genocide is not a matter of anybody's opinion; it's a judicial fact recognized first by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and subsequently by the International Court of Justice.